The global demand for oil will peak long before the supply does according to a study from Ricardo Strategic Consulting – perhaps as early as 2015.
http://www.ricardo.com/en-GB/News–Media/Technical-Papers/
What the analysts are arguing – and presenting evidence for – is that although we’ve been worrying this whole time about peak oil supply the operative force will actually be peak oil demand. Due to a variety of factors – the article focuses mainly on advances in automotive fuel efficiency – global demand for oil is only going to keep increasing for a few more years after which it will begin to decline and will continue on a downward path.
The article quotes an automobile analyst as saying that alternative fuel technologies will remain too expensive to compete on a large scale with ICEs (internal combustion engines) and that fuel efficiency in ICEs themselves is what will allow carmakers to meet CAFE (US Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards.